DUFFY's reign at the top of the singles chart may be over, but the singing sensation from Nefyn is still top of the album charts.

Forget the comparisons with Dusty Springfield. She is a class act in her own right.

And there are two other things that set her apart. First, her single Mercy was the first by a UK artist to reach number one just on downloads from the internet. And second, she has reached the top without any of the crisis, clamour and chaos in the lives of some of her chart contemporaries. Well done Duffy. You've done North Wales proud.

YOU would have to go a long way to find a better argument for preserving North Wales' network of hospitals than that suggested in the letter on this page by reader Eirian Watcyn Jones.

Here is clear evidence that clinical excellence is not, and does not have to be, the preserve of regional superhospitals. And that excellence can be delivered in a smaller and less daunting environment.

Llandudno hospital's apparent reprieve – and the possibility that breast cancer services could even be further developed – is to be welcomed.

The force of public opinion has had a vital role in persuading health ministers and officials that the route they were taking towards restructuring acute services into three regional superhospitals was the wrong one.

It is not the first time that public opinion has won the day. The people of Blaenau Ffestiniog also took to the streets to fight for their hospital's survival. These protests shake officialdom out of a patronising conviction that "nanny state knows best".

What roused the readers of this newspaper – and those of our sister weekly titles – was the threat posed to services for local communities.

The campaign to preserve our communities is being fought across a broad front against the twin trends of streamlining and centralisation.

This is not just about hospitals. This is about village schools. This is about rural post offices. This is about the corner shop and the local petrol station. This is about affordable homes in towns and villages where young people grew up. This is about decent public transport.

Village life, the local community, are under threat like never before. But as the campaign for the hospitals has demonstrated, the cause is not necessarily lost.